All religions propound notions of soul, of levels of soul

[Guest guest]

shriadishakti , jagbir singh

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> Dear Sampa,

>

> You wrote to me regarding the above: " If soul is to be understood

> as an individual and particular spirit, then it is FALSE. If soul

> is considered as universal as in brahman, then it is truth and

> only the truth can set you free "

>

> i think your statement is mainly from the Buddhist's point of

> view. However i to the common view of all faiths and

> prophets. For me truth cannot be contradicted, and the statement

> about the nature of the soul does contradict the generally held

> view. ....

>

> And what have i realized about the soul over the years?: We are

> all countless souls reincarnating to becomes pure enough to

> eventually merge into Brahman. But first we have to liberate

> ourselves, attain moksha and CONTINUE the journey. That is why it

> is so vital to first participate in the Great Event ordained for

> humanity.

>

 

The Structure of the Soul

 

" What is soul, this mysterious something that forms our true

essence? Many speak of the soul, but rarely does anyone attempt to

say what it is. And so soul remains a vague but profound question

mark at the center of our life. Dare we wait until we die to explore

our soul, in the hope that death will offer a ray of clarity?

Despite the confusion, we feel that our soul is who we really are,

undeniably important even if always hidden.

 

To begin to make sense of this, we can look to the major spiritual

traditions for guidance on questions of the soul. All religions

propound notions of soul, of levels of soul, and of corresponding

levels of experience. Soul serves as the bridge between Heaven and

Earth, and is thus central to all spirituality. Christianity, Islam,

Taoism, Hinduism, and Judaism view the soul as a composite,

incorporating various levels or parts. The lower level exhibits

similarities to our physical body. Higher levels are progressively

more refined, with the highest approaching God. Christianity speaks

of the carnal, natural, and spirit bodies. Islamic Sufis call the

parts nafs, ruh, and sirr. The Hindu soul has etheric, astral, and

causal bodies, while Judaic Kabbalah teaches of the nefesh, ruach,

and neshamah.

 

Buddhism, on the contrary, denies the concept of an eternal,

individualized soul. However, Buddhism does include some soul-like

ideas, such as the collection of aggregates, or skandas, which bear

a person's karma into future lives. Tibetan Buddhism speaks of

the four bodies of the Buddha: nature body, truth-wisdom body,

enjoyment body, and emanation body.

 

A detailed comparison of all these systems of the soul is better

left for an academic thesis. "

 

The Structure of the Soul

www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/Soul.htm

[Guest guest]

shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> The Structure of the Soul

>

> " What is soul, this mysterious something that forms our true

> essence? Many speak of the soul, but rarely does anyone attempt to

> say what it is. And so soul remains a vague but profound question

> mark at the center of our life. Dare we wait until we die to

> explore our soul, in the hope that death will offer a ray of

> clarity? Despite the confusion, we feel that our soul is who we

> really are, undeniably important even if always hidden.

>

> To begin to make sense of this, we can look to the major spiritual

> traditions for guidance on questions of the soul. All religions

> propound notions of soul, of levels of soul, and of corresponding

> levels of experience. Soul serves as the bridge between Heaven and

> Earth, and is thus central to all spirituality. Christianity,

> Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and Judaism view the soul as a composite,

> incorporating various levels or parts. The lower level exhibits

> similarities to our physical body. Higher levels are progressively

> more refined, with the highest approaching God. Christianity speaks

> of the carnal, natural, and spirit bodies. Islamic Sufis call the

> parts nafs, ruh, and sirr. The Hindu soul has etheric, astral, and

> causal bodies, while Judaic Kabbalah teaches of the nefesh, ruach,

> and neshamah.

>

> Buddhism, on the contrary, denies the concept of an eternal,

> individualized soul. However, Buddhism does include some soul-like

> ideas, such as the collection of aggregates, or skandas, which

> bear a person's karma into future lives. Tibetan Buddhism speaks of

> the four bodies of the Buddha: nature body, truth-wisdom body,

> enjoyment body, and emanation body.

>

> A detailed comparison of all these systems of the soul is better

> left for an academic thesis. "

>

> The Structure of the Soul

> www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/Soul.htm

>

 

 

" It is a mistake to attempt a final estimate of the views of either

Buddha, Plato, Jesus, or any other teacher of religious philosophy,

by means of a literal analysis of the printed record of what they

taught. In the case of Buddha, there is reason to think that, like

Jesus, he taught an inner, higher doctrine to his immediate

disciples. What may be called " popular " Buddhism has generally been

conceded to be preserved by the Southern or Ceylonese School, and it

is from the scriptures of Southern Buddhism that Western scholars

have gained the impression that Buddha denied the possibility of

immortality. Rhys Davids, the Orientalist whose interpretations are

best known to the West, has written: " There is no passage of a soul

or I in any sense from the one life to the other. " . . . Davids also

concludes that " death, utter death, " is the sequel to Nirvana.

 

Edmund Holmes is convinced that this is a mutilation, a complete

misreading, of Buddhist philosophy, and his chapter in The Creed of

Buddha to correct the mistake seems a well-reasoned discussion of

the central implication of Buddhist teachings. The Southern version,

briefly, is that at death a man's tendencies and traits of character

are resolved into psychic residues termed by the Buddhists Skandas,

and that these are all that remain of the man who has died. The

Skandhas (carriers of Karma) are then reborn in some other person or

individual, but without any connecting link of continuing egoity.

 

Northern Buddhism [the Buddhism of Tibet, China, and Japan], on the

other hand, while exuberantly metaphysical in form, is said to have

preserved the teaching given by Buddha to his arhats, or initiated

disciples, and here one finds unmistakably taught the doctrine of a

permanent identity which unites all the incarnations of a single

individual. This latter is the view adopted by Holmes: " The question

we have to ask ourselves with regard to the Buddhist conception is a

simple one: Is the identity between me and the inheritor of my

Karma . . . as real as the identity between the me of today and the

me of 20 years hence . . . ? If it is not as real, the doctrine of

reincarnation is pure nonsense. "

 

— From an " essay on Buddha's thought contained in a translation

of the Dhammapada published by the Cunningham Press, " quoted in

Reincarnation: An East-West Anthology.